I’m near the one year mark – one year! – of owning my private practice. It was a dream and ultimate career goal from the time I decided to go back to grad school in 2010. Seven years later, an opportunity arose, in the form of a sudden and unexpected (boy, I didn’t see that one coming) job layoff, some office space that became available, a person willing to share the rent and just like that, a dream became reality.
Shy of one year in my practice, I just re-signed a lease (solo, yikes!) and couldn’t be happier. I’ve had some big successes co-mingled with a lot of hard lessons. Here are five rookie mistakes for you to avoid if/when you are thinking of opening your own private practice.
1) Find a Niche – I was all over the map when I started. Honestly. As a therapist, you can’t be everything to everyone. So don’t make the mistake of taking all business just for the sake of taking business. Figure out your strengths (and weaknesses), find your niche, and work on perfecting it. Refer cases beyond your expertise to others in your community. In time, they’ll refer back to you.
2) Stay Organized – Owning a business means you are all departments – IT, accounting, scheduling, marketing and everything in between. This is a constant challenge for me. When I’m not seeing clients, I schedule time in my day for meetings, marketing, social media management, paperwork or general planning, depending on what needs to be done. Set up systems that work for you so that your practice can run efficiently.
3) Safety First – I’ve taken new clients at 8:00 p.m. and weekend slots where my usually-bustling office building was desolate and I was isolated and alone. Looking back, considering the line of work I’m in, some of those clients would have been better for me to see during normal business hours until I got to know them better. Looking forward, I only schedule my known and established clients during my irregular times.
4) Have a Business Plan – I’m going to make all you MBA-types (and my accountant) cringe right here: I didn’t write one. Well, not an official one. Oh, I had a list of things to do (website, PLLC, business accounts, etc) and lots of ideas swimming in my head. But get your business plan down on paper, including all start-up costs, projected expenses, and number of clients you need weekly to break-even, turn a profit, and cover expenses. Refer to your business plan monthly, and make revisions as needed.
5) Don’t Panic – Owning a business has its ups and downs. Some months are better than others. Case in point: my most profitable month was one where I was off for a week on vacation. The next month was slow (and I mean, slooooooooow). During this slow month, someone approached me coming to work for them – notice I said “for” not “with.” I considered this offer for a few days (what if I don’t make it? what if business continues this slow? What if what if what if?) but decided to continue working to build my practice. Sure enough, not two weeks after turning down the offer, some well-paying, substance-use contract-work came my way. If I had panicked and thrown in the towel, I would have been giving up not only my dream, but this other, better-suited opportunity.
I’m still making mistakes, and learning from each and every one. Mistakes are simply par for the course of owning your own business. Don’t dwell on them. They happen to everyone – just don’t repeat them, and learn from them. Best of luck with your own practice, and I hope reading about my rookie mistakes help you avoid making your own.
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